As a pastor of a church, I have watched with awe as Godly communities
have transformed the lives of people without government intervention. I
have watched again and again the failure of bureaucratic attempts at
rehabilitation and the success of spiritual regeneration. With all
respect to the well-intentioned and often laudable accomplishments of the
NAACP, the Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and
other such groups, the most powerful institution for transforming and
improving the lives of black people in America has been, is and always
will be the church.

When that church is under attack, the very soul of the community is
under attack. When it is happening in Mississippi, it is felt in
Massachusetts. When it is happening in Louisiana, it is felt in Long
Island. And when it is happening in Detroit, Michigan, it is felt in
Demopolis, Alabama. An attack on black churches is an attack on the very
nerve center of the black community, the ultimate place of its help and hope.

As National Liaison for Urban Development for the Christian Coalition, I
have not come here today to criticize any other organization, but to say
the Christian Coalition joins with any organization which will rise up
and say these attacks on the black church, and on Christianity cannot and
will not stand.

Some have asked why the Christian Coalition is so concerned. Let me
state it clearly and unequivocally. To paraphrase Dr. King, an attack on
Christianity anywhere is an attack on Christianity everywhere. We are
the Christian Coalition, and it is a large part of our mission to be sure
that Christian values, ideals and institutions crucial to our history
remain the building blocks of our present and future. We are not the
white Christian Coalition or the black Christian Coalition; we are not
the Protestant or Catholic coalition. We are the Christian Coalition and
our brothers and sisters are of all colors and of all denominations. We
are a rainbow that is painted not by politics ultimately, but by faith in
Jesus Christ.

The Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, Dr. Ralph Reed, has
left no room for
misunderstanding. I suppose to those who have lied about him and called
him and the Christian Coalition a bunch of Nazis, he should be dismissed
as a "white man." However, for those of us who want to see the kind of
America Dr. King envisioned, Ralph Reed is a brother leading the
Christian Coalition to reach out a hand of love to everyone, but
particularly those who know that obedience to God brings blessings on our
nation. Dr. Reed said:

"It is a shame in the past the white evangelical church simply looked
the other way when [black churches were] confronted by racist attacks.
The Christian Coalition will not look the other way. The terrorists who
committed these crimes to our African-American brothers and sisters will
be dealt with. We will hunt them down, and we will bring them to justice."

Let me end on what is a wonderfully inspiring development which is
emerging from this series of evil acts. The immense good will of the
American people, white and black, has poured forth in a magnificent way.
In spite of those whose goal it is to keep us racially divided, this
country continues to move in the direction of fulfilling Dr. King's
vision of not being judged by the color of our skin, but the content of
our character. White Christians and others all over the country have put
their shoulder to the plow, and their money where their mouths are to
say, we stand with our brothers and sisters and the color of their skin
is irrelevant.

Once again, faith, as it did for our Founding Fathers, confronts a curse
and transforms it into a blessing.

by Rev. Earl Jackson, the National Liason for Urban Development for the
Christian Coalition. Reverend Jackson has served as Senior Pastor of New
Cornerstone
Exodus Church in Boston since 1982. This Project 21 commentary is
excerpted from testimony given on May 20 to the House Judiciary Committee.

(New Visions Commentaries are the opinion of their authors, and not
necessarily those of Project 21.)